Politics

Gov't: No Record of Truce Village Communication on 2007 UN HR Vote

Write : 2016-10-18 09:06:04Update : 2016-10-18 09:43:57

The government says there are no remaining records of inter-Korean communication through the truce village of Panmunjeom that can verify if Seoul had indeed inquired Pyongyang's position before it abstained from a vote to adopt a 2007 UN resolution on human rights issues in the North.

Amid a heated debate over the veracity of a retired former foreign minister's memoir regarding the allegation, an official of the Unification Ministry on Monday revealed the absence of existing records.

The official, however, acknowledged that there were other communication channels apart from the liaison office at the truce village, including two military hotlines and an unofficial channel which the South Korean National Intelligence Service maintained with the North.

Rival parties are mired in a political dispute over the matter after South Korea’s former Foreign Minister Song Min-soon claimed in his memoir that the Roh Moo-hyun government checked with Pyongyang before abstaining from the 2007 vote.